MODifamily LOVES Aunt Ruth.Modify Watches is feeling the love! They are offering a 20% discount on the Appreciate Everything watch available to anyone who has purchased Loving Aunt Ruth; Recipes for a Life Well-Lived.

Pretty cool, huh?

We created this watch as our reward in Modify’s Kickstarter program.We don’t make them or have any affiliation with Modify Watches, other than we love their stuff.Because they also love Aunt Ruth, here’s what they said:

She said, “I would like to be
remembered as a nice, generous, and loving person.”

I am remembering her exactly as she wished I would.

Today, May 10, is Aunt Ruth’s 95th birthday, and thanks
to all of you who have followed our blog these last 4+ years until the release
of our book, I know there is a heavenly celebration. As Aunt Ruth said,

“Every
birthday is important!

I believe
you should share them with as many people as you can afford to feed.”

So, put on your party hat.

Toot a horn.

Make
a wish.

Be Aunt Ruth today and
fill your house with friends, because “Everything tastes better shared.”

There are no secrets on the Internet, and I am so glad.
You already know the book is available!!

I am beyond thrilled to share the joy I had creating Loving Aunt Ruth: Recipes for a Life
Well-Lived, so I made this video with the help of terrific videographers,
Bob and Lauren Sammon.Pull up a
chair.Pour some tea or
coffee.Thank you for loving Aunt
Ruth.

Loving Aunt Ruth:
Recipes for a Life Well-Livedis days away from being available! It’s about time! Speaking of time, it’s TIME for a
contest to celebrate the book, love, and YOU.

If you sign up on www.lovingauntruth.com before midnight this Friday, April 25, to receive updates, you will be eligible
to WIN a Loving Aunt Ruth Watch designed in the book’s colors featuring one of
Aunt Ruth’s mantras.The watch
face says, “Appreciate Everything,” and the amazing team at www.modifywatches.com made it.It comes with TWO bands too!

I don't have any friends from my kindergarten class! Do you? As our book release date draws closer, it is really fun to listen to Aunt Ruth remember. Please join us for some sweetness by clicking on the link below:

Aunt Ruth and I talked a lot about being generous, kind, and loving. Now that Loving Aunt Ruth: Recipes for a Well-Lived Life is close to being released, I wanted to share some of my conversations with Aunt Ruth. Aunt Ruth's love transcends time.

(Please visit www.lovingauntruth.com to sign up for book and book talk updates. As Aunt Ruth says, "Always make sure to have love in your life. It is the greatest gift of all.")

This is the season for holiday mail.Catalogues stuff my rural box, while
cyber reminders of deals and sales stack my in box with temptations. This year,
I get Aunt Ruth’s mail.She
doesn’t get Williams Sonoma or Neiman Marcus.She gets letters from Sloan-Kettering, Hadassah, The Policeman's Fund, The Free Clinic, Catholic Charities, The Jewish Community Center, and
organizations I didn’t know existed.

Aunt Ruth believed that helping people, loving people was
simple to do.She gave something
to everyone who wrote to her from a dollar to ten, because she thought that
this was the right thing to do.“Imagine how many mouths the Salvation Army could feed or new research
for cancer could be funded, if everyone gave something?” she would ask
off-handedly.She’d add, “If you
don’t have money, then give your time.”She talked like this as if the lessons were filling space like commas,
because she wasn’t preaching.She was narrating her daily life.

I get her mail now.I stack the envelopes and watch the Giving Tower grow.Her goodness shines light on everything
she taught me, everything she did, and everything she hoped others would do.

Aunt Ruth said, “Everything
is better shared.”Little by
little adds up to a lot, and a lot
surely makes for better. I know it is trite, but Aunt Ruth didn’t
have a Giving Season, and my hope is that her Giving Tower inspires me towards
kindness, because opportunity is always right
infront of me.It can be as easy as answering the
phone with a happy voice.

My dad’s photographic legacy taught me that a camera is a
key to open doors or hearts.Aunt
Ruth opened the door to her apartment and let me photograph her life, and my
heart has been full ever since

May her Giving Tower inspire you to start yours, but most of
all, thank YOU for Loving Aunt Ruth.

Today is Veteran's Day, and there were no prouder veterans in our family than Aunt Ruth and Uncle Bob. He was a Captain, and she drove and repaired staff cars for the Red Cross. He served in Europe, and she drove on the army base in Richmond, Virginia.

Ruth was a great driver and skilled mechanic, and she was asked to consider pilot training! Uncle Bob didn't want his sweetheart in harm's way, so she stayed grounded and kept her eyes on the road.

As far as I can remember, each of them talked about their pride of service and love of country, and I am grateful to both of them.

We live in a world made up more of story than stuff. We are creatures
of memory more than reminders, of love more than likes. Being attentive to the
needs of others might not be the point of life, but it is the work of life. It
can be messy, and painful, and almost impossibly difficult. But it is not
something we give. It is what we get in exchange for having to die.

Jonathan Safran Foer

Speaking of story….memory….and love, I am
happy to say that Loving Aunt Ruth is looking like it will have a 2014
release.

More later!

Meanwhile, please know that Aunt Ruth and I
treasured every blog visit, every comment, and your appreciation for her
recipes both for living well and eating well!

Aunt Ruth told me to appreciate
everything, and while details evolve, I wanted you to know that she and I
appreciate you.

I accept that life isn’t easy.I have my faith…but I have a will to live, and that will comes from
loving people.

If you have followed this blog, you know that Aunt Ruth’s
answer to my question changed how I viewed my life.Loving people was Aunt Ruth’s anchor and her fuel.Love energized her, gave her purpose,
and got her into the kitchen to test recipes she’d share with family and
friends.Love was behind the wheel
for her perpetual visits to the cemetery to manicure our family’s graves.Love got her out of bed to answer the
phone to offer support and unconditional love.

Love was behind every single thing Aunt Ruth thought about
doing or did.She inspired YOU
too!

The ♥'s on the map are from EVERY
place this blog has had a “hit” since it has been launched.Love has NO BOUNDARIES.Thank you for loving Aunt Ruth!More exciting news:

As the book gets closer to becoming available, we are thrilled
to announce that we will be donating from our sales toThe Intergenerational School, a free, high-performing public charter
school with locations in Cleveland, Ohio, that has been nationally recognized
for their innovative, intergenerational approach to learning. Their mission is
to connect, create, and guide multigenerational communities of lifelong
learners and spirited citizens.Aunt Ruth’s commitment to education and loving all people has found a
wonderful partnership in

I don’t think there’s
one thing more important you can do for your kids than have family dinner.”

Ruth Reichl, former
Editor-in-Chief of Gourmet

If you follow this blog, you know that Aunt Ruth never stopped
collecting and testing recipes. Preparing delicious food was only half of the
reason Aunt Ruth was in her kitchen; the other half was imagining the smiles from
sharing whatever came from her oven(s).Initially, I thought this post would include a lesson from Aunt Ruth or
even a new recipe, but I surprised myself.

In photographing Aunt Ruth’s
cookbook collection, I was startled by the authors’ names listed as Mrs. David
So-and-So or Mrs. Robert Such-and-Such.Whoa, I was right back in the late 60’s when Gloria introduced
women to the option of Ms., and we stopped using Mr.’s name as
identification!One of Aunt Ruth’s
favorite cookbooks featuring many of her tested recipes lists the cook’s names as Mrs. Irving, Mrs. Noah, and Mrs. Milton…

Pictured in this blog is The way to a man’s heart, The Settlement
Cook Book, a compilation of recipes by (drum roll, please) Mrs. Simon
Kander. The book has a chapter devoted to kuchen, another for breakfast
cereals, and one for campfire building with instructions on broiling
rabbit. Cool, right?I only wish that Mrs.
Kander's first name appeared in the book.

I don’t want to belabor
feminism or even criticize the incredible cookbook authors who predated Julia
Child, Ruth Riechl, or one of my current favorites, Tamar Adler, but I think it
is worth remembering how nice it is that we can now choose what name we would like to use in
any context.

Which brings me back to Mrs.
Robert D. Moss, the name stamped into so many of my aunt’s cookbooks.Aunt Ruth told me that if she could go
back in time, she would have finished college and become a teacher.Her annotated cookbooks have taught
many of her friends and our family about which recipes were the best, saving us
from endless flop potential and keeping her close in our hearts.

Why not spend time with your
mother’s recipe collection?Or her
cookbooks?Share a day of baking
and take what you make to someone who needs cheering.Be a little Aunt Ruth!There is so much to be learned from being in the kitchen.

You know who you are.You are the followers who comment, like us on Facebook, and
most recently sent an actual mail surprise in Aunt Ruth’s favorite color,
orange.As much as I wonder about
the difference between “liking” and “loving,” I want you All to be certain that
your virtual love has made a big difference to Aunt Ruth and to me.

Thank you for being touched by Aunt Ruth’s lessons and my
photography.Thank you for each“share”
on Facebook.Thanks to those who
asked about attending an Aunt Ruth Seder!Thanks for trying Aunt Ruth’s recipes and for appreciating her
ingredients for living well. Thanks for learning from Aunt Ruth’s lessons, enjoying her humor,
and being inspired by her courage.Thanks for
cooking Aunt Ruth’s recipes and letting us know that you did.Thanks for entering our first contest
and making winning Aunt Ruth’s recipes a wonderful prize.

Thanks for taking time out of your day to listen to Aunt
Ruth’s story.

"Honey, what I know for sure is that love is the
most important thing in your life. It is the greatest gift.

During some of our dark days, YOU inspired US.

I never dreamed that I would open my mailbox and find postcards
and presents. Thank you for being
OUR greatest gift, virtually.

Forty-five years ago, my older sister announced her
engagement to a Methodist. My
mother wasn’t sure she would fund such a union let alone attend. Aunt Ruth helped my mom put aside her
concerns about an inter-faith marriage, and a lovely wedding resulted.

I don’t want to suggest that Aunt Ruth was thrilled about my
sister’s choice, but she put her feelings aside, and she wasn’t even invited to
the small, immediate family affair!For years, my mother and Aunt Ruth drove to visit my sister, Jane, and her
husband in Connecticut with a trunk load of home cooking.Brisket, Daddy Cake, Rugelah, and other
delights of Jane’s childhood.Those sisters never went anywhere without food…lots of food!All worries about the mixed faith
marriage were lost over dinner!

In the recent New York
Times Book Review,‘Til Faith Do Us Part: How Interfaith Marriage is
Transforming America, by Naomi Schaefer Riley,was reviewed.Aunt
Ruth was way ahead of this comprehensive study, but she surely agreed with the
result about whether or not interfaith marriages were good for America:“To the extent that it dispels ignorance,
punches holes in stereotypes and deflates bias, I would say it surely can be.”

Last year, Aunt Ruth and Jane came to see my youngest son get
married.He fell in love with the
daughter of an Episcopalian priest.Unlike Jane’s wedding or Aunt Ruth’s, my mother’s, or even mine, our son
and his bride celebrated their love in front of over 100 guests.All watched as a priest and a rabbi
spoke from their respective religious texts.It was a glorious day.

Aunt Ruth’s will to live came from loving people.All people.She came from an orthodox Jewish home and was raised to keep an
open mind and heart. In her
library was this collection of books that speak to Aunt Ruth’s desire to learn,
to grow, and to accept.Most of
all, she believed that love was the greatest gift of all.

This was a courageous leap of faith 45 years ago for Aunt
Ruth and my mom.As Aunt Ruth
said, “Always make sure you have love in your life.”

If you wanted to know the
conversion of 1 cup to its metric system equivalent, you could call Aunt Ruth,
and she would go to her desk drawer, retrieve her Conversion Chart, and tell
you, “It’s 230 milliliters.”

If you wanted to know what
“earned surplus” meant, Aunt Ruth would say that it is “also known as income
retained in the business.The
amount retained from year to year depends on both net income and dividend
payments.” She handled her family’s bookkeeping and investments, worked during
the war as an accountant for the Navy, and because she wanted fast facts at her fingertips, she kept a
copy of How to Understand Financial
Statements in her desk drawer.

She had a United States map
with time zones and area codes, Webster’s
Thumb Indexed Dictionary, a pamphlet on treating the 15 most common household
stains, and another that outlined the Kiddush service for Sabbath.

Aunt Ruth was smart and savvy.As times changed, her pamphlets and
charts did too.She had data for
everything before we knew we needed it.She was remarkable.

She was fascinated by
technology and learning and quite proud that she owned the very first generation of Kindle, and on hers was Thomas Friedman’s,
Hot, Flat, Crowded :Why
We Need a Green Revolution and How it Can Renew America along with other
selections ranging from current fiction to biographies.

Aunt Ruth never stopped
wanting to know, and one of her many lessons to me was to keep an insatiable Appetite for knowledge.

When Aunt Ruth turned 90,she didn’t want any gifts.I sent a postcard asking her friends to choose 1-3
words that described her.From
those words, a cake and cupcakes were decorated with a life’s worth of
words (http://www.honeylazar.com/loving-aunt-ruth.htm),
and the words were saved in a wooden box.

This blog is all about words...words of wisdom, hope,
struggle, humor, love, and yes, ingredients for great food.I love words as much as I love images,
but most of all, I loved Aunt Ruth, and so did the 165 people who came to
celebrate her 90th birthday!

This Mother’s Day, let Aunt Ruth inspire you to speak words
of love to your own Mother, your friend’s mother, or those who have mothered
you when you needed unconditional love.

Aunt Ruth said, “Always make sure you have love in your
life,” but I would add that you let those you lovehear those words.

Have a Loving Mother’s Day…Happy 94th Birthday to
Aunt Ruth….

(The words used to make the I ♥ U are from Aunt Ruth's Birthday Collection)

Aunt Ruth loved long dining room tables, the color orange, and sharing her recipes. Thank you for visiting the blog, for leaving a comment to enter this giveaway, and most of all, thanks for Loving Aunt Ruth!

In the years of photographing,
learning from, and eating with Aunt Ruth, I also documented her ingredients for
a life well lived.

ACCORDing to Aunt Ruth:

You must love with your whole heart.Cooking for family and friends is one
way I show love.We had a big
dining room table, and we loved to entertain.It is a different world now.People don’t seem to have lifelong friends like we did or
even serve big dinners, but one thing I think should never change is that you
must respect each other.

With respect to Aunt Ruth, the love she gave to so many, and the
delicious food she served, we are offering an ACCORDion book with a selection
of Aunt Ruth’s favorite recipes.

The book can be yours if you leave a comment on this blog
until midnight, April 21, when I will print comments and drop them into a hat
to randomly select the lucky recipient. Please sign your comment with a first
name. The name doesn’t even have to be yours to keep your anonymity, but I need
a way to recognize you as The Recipe Recipient!

You can leave as many
comments as you want.

Each one is
a chance to get the ACCORDIONBOOK!

On Monday, April 22, I will
post the selected name on this blog, and you can send me a direct email with
your address.The ACCORDion and
Aunt Ruth’s love will be yours.Remember, ACCORDing to Aunt Ruth, everything tastes better shared!

I am still
collecting recipes.I like to
create and eat food, but the best part of cooking is sharing.

This is true
for most things in life.

Aunt
Ruth served up optimism; everything she made was topped with love.This blog continues to offer Aunt
Ruth’s ingredients for a life well-lived, and today’s entry comes in the form
of Apricot Noodle Pudding.

Loving Aunt Ruth introduces Aunt Ruth's life lessons, advice, and recipes along with my photographs of her. I am a photographer who has documented Aunt Ruth's life. You can see more images on my site, www.honeylazar.com. If you would like to ask aunt ruth a question or leave her a comment, please contact me directly at: photography@honeylazar.com. Aunt ruth would love to hear from you! thank you.